Labour Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday claimed that a minister may have intervened to have a person released from police custody but would not elabo-rate further.

“I said what I had to say. It is now your job as journalists to investigate. If there is a minister who ever called for someone to be released from the police lock-up, he should speak up,” Dr Muscat replied when asked to furnish more details on this “serious” allegation.

Dr Muscat was speaking during a press conference at the Bidnija Shooting Range, where he gave more details of his party’s plans on sports.

He made the allegation while replying to a question about his deputy, Toni Abela, who was secretly recorded saying that he went to a police station, found a “Labourite” and told him not to press charges against a man over an issue at the Attard Labour Party club.

“How far more serious is it that a minister calls the police for someone to be released from the lock-up?” he replied.

Asked again whether the matter involving Dr Abela was ‘case closed’ for him and for the party, Dr Muscat said: “We said all we had to say on the issue. Dr Abela made his position clear and this is all we have to say.”

“Are you on Dr Abela’s side?” “I am on the side of justice.”

Since the event was about sports, Dr Muscat was also asked about the case involving Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, who is facing an impeachment motion after he was mentioned by the International Olympic Committee in a probe over the sale of Olympic tickets.

Dr Muscat said it made more sense for the judge to leave the post until a decision was taken.

About the case of George Farrugia, who has been given a presidential pardon in the oil procurement scandal so long as he returns the proceeds of a corruption ring he allegedly formed part of, Dr Muscat said the amount mentioned was ridiculous. He described the €250,000 Mr Farrugia is obliged to return as “tips”.

With regard to Labour’s proposals for sports, Dr Muscat said his government would upgrade the tal-Qroqq national pool which, he said, had been left in a dilapidated state. Labour would also develop a professional indoor pool where athletes could train in comfort.

He also mentioned the development of a motor sports track and the building of an international shooting range for Malta to be able to attract international tournaments year round, making good use of its climate.

Although the party had sites in mind for the indoor pool and the shooting range, a consultation process still had to take place and studies carried out.

He said Labour would also continue to work on present schemes such as that in which athletes worked 20 hours a week and trained for the other 20, with the government paying for the 20 hours of training.

A Labour government would also consider paying for full-time athletes. It would work with all sports organisations and in synergy with the Malta Tourism Authority to increase sports tourism, he said.

Later in the afternoon, Dr Muscat visited the motor sports track in Ħal Far where he explained that the circuit his party was looking at was a multi-purpose one which would accommodate as many motor sport disciplines as possible.

He said the party was open to ideas from the Motor Sports Association and to funds from the private sector so that motor sports amateurs would not have to fork out money as this would turn it into an “elitist” sport.

Cabinet denial

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and all Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries denied en masse Dr Muscat’s assertion that any of them had called the police to release anyone from custody.

In a joint statement, the Cabinet vehemently denied the claim which they said Dr Muscat had not substantiated.

“Dr Muscat is trying to divert attention from the scandal involving his Deputy Leader for Party Affairs Toni Abela who went to a police station to tell a Labourite policeman not to press charges... what Dr Abela did shows that the Opposition views the police corps as a political instrument,” they said in a statement.